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A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Friday 8 July 2022

James Caan, Oscar nominee for ‘The Godfather,’ dies at 82

By LINDSEY BAHR year he played a tongue-
AP Film Writer in-cheek version of Sonny
James Caan, the curly- Corleone in the comedy
haired tough guy known to “Honeymoon in Vegas,”
movie fans as the hothead- tricking Nicolas Cage into
ed Sonny Corleone of “The betting his girlfriend, Sarah
Godfather” and to tele- Jessica Parker, in a high-
vision audiences as both stakes poker game so he
the dying football player in can spirit her away and try
the classic weeper “Brian’s to persuade her to marry
Song” and the casino boss him.
in “Las Vegas,” has died. Other later films included
He was 82. “Flesh and Bone,” “Bottle
His manager Matt DelPiano Rocket” and “Mickey Blue
said he died Wednesday. Eyes.” He introduced him-
No cause was given and self to a new generation
Caan’s family, who re- playing Walter, the worka-
quests privacy, said that no holic, stone-faced father of
further details would be re- Buddy’s Will Ferrell in “Elf.”
leased at this time. Caan didn’t take a star-
Al Pacino wrote in an ring role in a TV series until
emailed statement that, 2003 but his first effort, “Las
“Jimmy was my fictional Vegas,” was an immedi-
brother and my lifelong ate hit. When the series de-
friend. It’s hard to believe James Caan attends the 2016 Summer TCA “Hallmark Event” on July 27, 2016, in Beverly buted, he was a casino sur-
that he won’t be in the Hills, Calif. Caan, whose roles included “The Godfather,” “Brian’s Song” and “Misery,” died veillance chief dealing with
world anymore because Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at age 82. Associated Press cheaters and competitors
he was so alive and daring. of the fictional Montecito
A great actor, a brilliant di- Sonny Corleone, a violent Piccolo, who had died of work every day with a di- Resort and Casino.
rector and my dear friend. and reckless man who con- cancer the year before at rector I don’t like.” His character rose to be-
I’m gonna miss him.” ducted many killings, met age 26. It was among the He had begun to struggle come boss of the Monteci-
Robert De Niro also wrote his own end in one of the most popular and wrench- with drug use and was to but remained the tough
that he was, “very very most jarring movie scenes ing TV movies in history and devastated by the 1981 guy who had learned judo
sad to hear about Jimmy’s in history. Racing to find his Caan and co-star Billy Dee leukemia death of his sis- in an undercover division of
passing.” sister’s husband, Corleone Williams, who played Pic- ter, Barbara, who until then the U.S. government. Caan
Many of his collaborators stops at a toll booth that colo’s teammate and best had been a guiding force left the show during the
also wrote condolences on he discovers is unnervingly friend Gale Sayers, were in his career. For much of fourth season and it was
Twitter on Thursday. empty of customers. Be- nominated for best actor the 1980s he made no films, later canceled.
Adam Sandler, who acted fore he can escape he is Emmys. telling people he preferred Born March 26, 1939, in
with him in “Bulletproof” cut down by a seemingly After “Brian’s Song” and to coach his son Scott’s New York City, Caan was
and “That’s My Boy” tweet- endless fusillade of ma- “The Godfather,” he was Little League games. Scott the son of a kosher meat
ed that he, “Loved him very chine-gun fire. For decades one of Hollywood’s busi- Caan also grew up to be wholesaler. He was a star
much. Always wanted to after, he once said, strang- est actors, appearing in an actor. athlete and class president
be like him. So happy I got ers would approach him “Hide in Plain Sight” (which Short on cash, Caan was at Rhodes High School and,
to know him. Never ever on the street and jokingly he also directed), “Funny hired by Coppola for the after attending Michigan
stopped laughing when I warn him to stay clear of Lady” (opposite Barbra leading role in the 1987 film State and Hofstra University,
was around that man. His toll roads. Streisand), “The Killer Elite” “Gardens of Stone.” The he studied at the Neighbor-
movies were best of the Caan bonded with Brando, and Neil Simon’s “Chapter movie, about life at Arling- hood Playhouse School of
best.” Robert Duvall and other Two,” among others. He ton National Cemetery, the Theater under Sanford
A football player at Michi- cast members and made also made a brief appear- proved too grim for most Meisner.
gan State University and a it a point to get everyone ance in a flashback se- audiences, but it renewed Following a brief stage ca-
practical joker on produc- laughing during an oth- quence in “The Godfather, Caan’s acting career. reer, he moved to Holly-
tion sets, Caan was a grin- erwise tense production, Part II.” He returned to full-fledged wood. He made his movie
ning, handsome performer sometimes dropping his But by the early 1980s he stardom opposite Kathy debut in a brief uncredited
with an athlete’s swagger pants and “mooning” a fel- began to sour on films, Bates in “Misery” in 1990. In role in 1963 in Billy Wilder’s
and muscular build. He low actor or crew member. though Michael Mann’s the film, based on Stephen “Irma La Douce,” then
managed a long career Despite Coppola’s fears he 1981 neo-noir heist film King’s novel, Caan is an landed a role as young
despite drug problems, had made a flop, the 1972 “Thief,” in which he played author taken captive by an thug who terrorizes Olivia
outbursts of temper and release was an enormous a professional safecracker obsessed fan who breaks de Havilland in “Lady in a
minor brushes with the law. critical and commercial looking for a way out, is his ankles to keep him from Cage.” He also appeared
Caan had been a favorite success and brought sup- among his most admired leaving. Bates won an Os- opposite John Wayne
of Francis Ford Coppola porting actor Oscar nomi- films. car for the role. and Robert Mitchum in
since the 1960s, when Cop- nations for Caan, Duvall “The fun of it was taken Once again in demand, the 1966 Western “El Do-
pola cast him for the lead and Al Pacino. away,” he told an inter- Caan starred in “For the rado” and Harrison Ford in
in “Rain People.” He was Caan was already a star on viewer in 1981. “I’ve done Boys” with Bette Midler in the 1968 Western “Journey
primed for a featured role television, breaking through pictures where I’d rather do 1991 as part of a song-and- to Shiloh.”Married and di-
in “The Godfather” as Son- in the 1971 TV movie “Bri- time. I just walked out of a dance team entertaining vorced four times, Caan
ny, the No. 1 enforcer and an’s Song,” an emotional picture at Paramount. I said U.S. soldiers during World had a daughter, Tara,
eldest son of Mafia boss drama about Chicago you haven’t got enough War II and the Korean and and sons Scott, Alexander,
Vito Corleone. Bears running back Brian money to make me go to Vietnam wars. The following James and Jacob.q